Ex-Fox29 anchor in court: My daughters will think I'm a racist

a race-discrimination lawsuit filed by former Fox29 anchorman Tom Burlington began Monday at U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

a race-discrimination lawsuit filed by former Fox29 anchorman Tom Burlington began Monday at U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. (Bryce Duffy, Getty Images)

Sam WoodPhilly.com

Trial opens in Fox29 anchor's 'n-word' lawsuit

An all-white jury in Philadelphia is being asked to determine who can say the racial epithet known as "the n-word."

Along the way, they also will have to decide whether it's acceptable to ever use it within the confines of a news-gathering operation.

On Monday, a racial discrimination suit filed by a former Fox29 anchorman opened in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Eight years ago, Tom Burlington was a weekend co-anchor on the station when he uttered the n-word in an internal staff meeting. Reporters and editors were discussing a story on June 23, 2007 about the ceremonial funeral of the word staged by the local youth council of the NAACP.

Burlington, who is white, asked "Does this mean we can finally say the word n---." Several black co-workers were offended.

Despite taking required sensitivity training, within a fortnight Burlington was off-the-air and looking for a new job.

In opening statements, FOX attorney Jerome Hoffman argued that using the word in any circumstance is "not acceptable workplace behavior."

Burlington's attorney, Laura Mattiacci, pointed out that multiple news organizations, including the Inquirer and Daily News, used the full word in their accounts of the NAACP event.

Burlington, now a 53-year-old real estate agent, took the stand in the early afternoon. Asked about his life following his firing, he described the difficulty of building a new career from scratch.

"The hardest part is my children," he said, as he broke into sobs. "My biggest fear is that they'll find accounts of it on the Internet.

"They'll believe I'm a racist," he said. "They'll never see me as a journalist."

Burlington, an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning reporter, earned several prizes for his coverage of African-American communities in Texas, North Carolina, and Camden, N.J.

He insists he said the word without malice. He contends he was unfairly punished for saying it, while African American employees were never disciplined for using the same word during similar staff meetings.

Burlington, hired by the station in 2004, recounted the FOX29 staff meeting. Burlington said if he had suspected his co-workers would take offense at his using the word, "I never would have said it."

Recounting the staff meeting, he described how Fox reporter Robin Taylor, who had covered the mock burial, repeatedly used the phrase "the n-word" as she described the funeral procession to her co-workers.

Burlington said he argued against using the phrase.

"I said if we're not going to say the word, we should not use 'the n-word,' but rather use 'racial slur' or 'racial epithet', Burlington told the jury. "Using 'the n-word' just gives the word more power."

He said he only used the offensive word in the context of a journalistic discussion.